1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-function machine having both scanning and printing functions, such as a facsimile machine. More particularly, the present invention relates to a multi-function machine having a paper-jam removing apparatus and a paper-jam removing method thereof, which are capable of removing a jammed sheet of paper or document en bloc in the same place when the sheet of paper and/or the document are jammed in either or both of the scanning and/or printing operations.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to improve office efficiency and realize office automation, recently introduced multi-function machines perform various functions. For example, these machine perform copying, printing and faxing functions in a single body, and are widely used in many offices.
Such a multi-function machine is usually provided with a scanner unit having a scanner to scan a document, and a printer unit having a print head, or a developing device as in an image forming apparatus. Generally, the scanner unit and the printer unit are constructed such that they are operated separately from each other to perform scanning and printing operations, respectively.
Referring to FIG. 1, a general inkjet multi-function machine 1 is illustrated that has both scanning and printing functions.
The inkjet multi-function machine 1 comprises a printer unit 10 to print data onto a sheet of paper P, and a scanner unit 50 to read data out of a document D.
The printer unit 10 is provided with a paper supply cassette or frame 28 to stack sheets of paper P, a paper pickup roller 32 to pick up one sheet of paper P at a time from the paper supply frame 28, a paper feed and paper feed backup rollers 34 to align a leading end of the paper P picked up by the paper pickup roller 32 and to feed the sheet of paper P, and a carriage 92 having an ink cartridge 14 mounted thereon to reciprocate in right and left directions along a carriage shaft 16. The printer unit 10 further comprises a paper discharge and a paper discharge backup rollers 37 to discharge the sheet of paper P printed by a print head onto a paper stacker 94. The ink cartridge 14 has the print head to jet ink onto the sheet of paper P fed by the paper feed and the paper feed backup rollers 34.
The scanner unit 50 is provided with a top frame 70 comprising a document supply tray for loading documents D and disposed to be slidable thereby to allow for exchange of the ink cartridge 14, a document sensor 71 to detect whether the documents D are loaded, and a document pickup roller 76 to pick up the documents D according to the operation of the document sensor 71. The scanner unit 50 is further provided with a document friction pad 74 for coming into contact with the document pickup roller 76 at a predetermined pressure to separate and feed one document D at a time by the friction force therebetween, document feed and document feed backup rollers 78 and 80 to align a leading end of the document D and to feed the document D, and a white roller 82 to support the document D opposite to a contact image sensor 84 and to feed the document D. The scanner unit 50 is further provided with a contact image sensor 84 to read data out of the document D delivered by the white roller 82, a document discharge roller 86 to discharge the document D past through the contact image sensor 84 onto a document stacker 90, and a cover 72 disposed to be openable and closable in a counterclockwise direction on a hinge axis 88 for maintaining and repairing of the scanner unit 50.
In such a conventional multi-function machine 1, however, since the printer unit 10 and the scanner unit 50 are constructed to be independently driven from each other, there are problems in that if a sheet of paper P and/or a document D are jammed in the scanning and/or printing units, the jammed paper and/or document needs to be removed by separate methods.
If the sheet of paper P is jammed in the printing operation, the top frame 70 is upwardly slid and moved and then the jammed paper P is removed by putting a hand in the printer unit 10 to pick it out of the non-visible paper feeding path therein. If, however, the document D is jammed in the scanning operation, the cover 72 is opened in the counterclockwise direction and then the jammed document D is removed by picking it out of the document feeding path in the scanner unit 50.
Further, in the conventional multi-function machine 1, there is a problem in that the height of the multi-function machine 1 increases and its size is enlarged, since the structure of the scanner unit 50 is placed on the printer unit 10, and the printer unit 10 has a top-down type paper supply path in which sheets of paper are supplied from the top to the bottom.